Stay At Home Weekend

These are the kinds of things that I make when I don't leave the house all weekend. There isn't a pattern for these as they came from my brain. They are probably influenced by something that I have seen in a book or on Ravelry, but the trimmings are my own idea.

 I made the blue trimmed one first and obviously didn't think things through properly as I think, on reflection, that the sail boat is on the wrong side. I am not unstitching it as I could damage the main cardigan by snipping through the wrong thread.

I am also going to amend any more that I make by putting a row of white around before I do the row of blue as I am not keen on the rather jagged edge that the blue has made around the neck and front edging.

I also think that the little boat would look more balanced with another sail but there wasn't room for it on this jacket. If I had put it on the other side then there would have been room for it.

This was the second attempt and I added a row of white all around this one before the pink shell edging.

Usual flower trim. I used 3 petal flowers to make the button loops for the white toggles. They are a little stiff to fasten at the moment but I am sure that they will slacken off with use.

This morning started off with a bit of a catastrophe. My top oven glass door has dropped off again. For those of you who have read my blog from the beginning you will know that the same thing happened about 2 yrs ago. My brother managed to glue it back on after a couple of attempts with some special glue that would withstand heat. I suppose that over the years the glue has melted. I have been fortunate though as each time the glass has started to fall off I have been in the kitchen and managed to catch it.

As you know most things happen in threes so please let the other two things that happen be small ones. I have a wasps nest in the roof tiles between the lounge bay window and the bedroom bay window so maybe that counts as number two. I am going to have to ring up tomorrow to find out how much it will cost to get the nest removed as I wake up every morning to wasps on the window bottom of my bedroom and next door can't open their windows as the wasps go inside their house.

Today has been quite warm but very muggy again. It's the kind of weather that feels like rain is imminent at any moment. I did manage to dry a bit of washing on my tiny line. My son is going to look out for a washing pole for me as previously I had tied the long washing line to the tree that fell over.

Should I start something else tonight or concentrate on sewing up the things that I have already made?

Not More Storage?

My niece came today to take me on a promised trip to Dunhelm. It is one of those places that sell bedding, towels but more importantly sewing accessories. It is so hard to buy a bobbin of sewing thread anywhere near me. My niece wanted to look at the prices of bedding for future reference. I bought my thread,some baby ribbon and some elastic and also small crochet hook as my smallest one had been dropped out of my case at some stage. I use a tiny hook to make small flowers for embellishment on my baby outfits.

The grey storage unit is still empty but knowing me it won't be long before it is filled. I also bought 3 more of those small button storage boxes. Today I had been sorting through the ribbon stock that I had left over from my shop and so these rolls if ribbon  are now residing in the red storage unit.

The top drawer of the red unit now houses this tangle of embroidery thread which I must sort out into an more orderly pile one day.

You have heard me mention my lodger cat Lily. Her owners are having an extension built on their house which isn't pleasing Lily much so I am seeing more of her than usual. For once she let me take her photo, Just look at those claws that she uses to scratch my carpet and rocking chair with.

She is a very loving little cat. She wants attention all the time when she is in the house. If I don't stroke her then she finds something to rub up against like my wicker waste paper baskets. Despite being so dainty she managed to knock loads of things down whilst she is visiting.

She is like a much smaller version of my late cat Nelson. He wasn't neutered for a long time so maybe she is one of his great grand daughters.

This is one of the outfits that I have finished for my store. I just noticed when I saw this photo that I have buttoned it through the wrong hole making one front look longer than the other. Good job this isn't the photo that I will be using for my store.

This is the reason why I wanted a very small hook. These flowers are a little big for the jacket. They really need to be a  bit daintier. I have finished the 3 piece cream boy's set but I will show you that another day. I still have a few finished sets that only need ribbon and buttons attaching. I am bad at finishing things off as I mentioned before. As soon as I have finished crocheting I put them on one side and start something new. As I am almost ready to set up my online store I need to finish them off now.

Today has been hot but the muggy kind of heat that makes you all sweaty straight after taking a shower. Now it is going darker it is looking like rain so I had better bring the washing in from the line. I do like it when the weather is hot enough to dry clothes outside.

Tonight I will be starting another baby outfit. I have tons of ideas in my head but I might make something that I have a pattern for. I will decide later but for now I am going to rescue my washing before the rain arrives.

Yummy Colours

I think that I am addicted to yarn. In fact I KNOW I am addicted to yarn. When Kemps send me e mails saying that they have more bargains I can't resist having a peek. If you are in the UK and like nice yarns at Sale prices then they do have some fabulous offers so click on the link. They don't just have the acrylics which I have bought they have bargains in branded wools, merinos and fancy yarns too.

I don't have shares in the company but maybe I should as over the last couple of years I have ordered so much from them. I think that I am addicted to parcels arriving and opening them. I am sure it comes from the excitement I used to feel when new stock arrived when I used to have the wool shops. Even though I had ordered it and knew what was in the bags there was nothing to beat the high of tipping the contents of the bags out especially if it was a brand new yarn that I had only seen samples of. You can keep your recreational drugs and alcohol I get high on a bag of yarn.

More bright colours for use in blankets although I think that I will use the blue and the peach for my baby garments,  At £1.09p for 100 grams they are such a bargain.

 More colours. The lilac fleck and the lemon are for baby garments. The rest is for blankets.

More for the babies. These are 4ply bargains. A pale fleck and some lemon.

I have taken a closer photo but it's still difficult to see the tiny flecks of lemon and green in the ball of yarn. The flecks are very delicate. Lovely for a newborn and neutral for the 'don't know the sex until it's born' babies.

More buttons for my collection also from Kemps  When I have to pay ££'s for buttons in a shop some of these cost as little as 3p each so they are such a bargain. I like them as they are a bit different from the normal 'fisheye' or 'star' buttons which are usually the cheapest way of buying buttons. When I am making things to hopefully sell later these trimmings can add up to ££'s on top of the yarn price. Some buttons can cost almost a £ each so that doubles the cost price of making something small.

I have almost finished a cream crocheted baby set. I just have to add the trimmings. I have several items now all awaiting the details. I must put some effort into the final finishing and then I can show what I have made so far. I will crochet all day long (if I can) and then leave all the finishing off until later. I think I enjoy the crocheting far more than the finished article. I do prefer to sew things up in the daylight on the dining room table. That's my excuse and I am sticking to it!

Time for a shower and get dressed. I knew that my parcel was arriving so I left my shower until after breakfast. I can't get down the stairs fast enough if the doorbell rings when I am upstairs. The parcel delivery men are quite used to the sight of my dressing gown. They usually deliver to me early morning as they know that I am usually up and around. I prefer it that way. Royal Mail, however, deliver any time of the day so it's difficult to judge when to shower or go shopping.

Lovely sunny day here so I am going to make the most of it by sitting in the back garden. I do have to collect my prescription but that is not until this afternoon.

I Am Still On The Net

Just been a bit lazy with my blogging over the weekend. I haven't had much to blog about so when that happens I just leave it for a few days.

Today should have been Knit Club night but the pub was shut for filming, They never let Rachael know and she travelled all the way there to be told that the pub was closed. Thankfully she phoned me before my taxi arrived otherwise I would have been down there with her outside the door. They know that we have a regular Monday night Knit Club so it wouldn't have taken them a minute to ring Rachael and let her know. I am campaigning for free drinks for Rachael next Monday.

Today in the 4th anniversary of the loss of Ollie, the cat I inherited from a neighbour. It doesn't seem that long. It must be 10 yrs since I lost my other cat Nelson who sadly had to be put the sleep at the old age of 19 yrs as he contracted meningitis. Sad though it was I am glad that I nursed Ollie in my arms until he passed away. He deteriorated so rapidly that I didn't have the time to get him to the vet. He was under treatment from the vet for his thyroid but the vet decided that he was too old to withstand another operation and said just take him home, give him his medication  and bring him back when you feel the time is right. Ollie decided for himself and passed away very peacefully.

It's another anniversary today, It's 3 yrs since my spinal operation. It has been a partial success although this weekend it has been giving me a lot of pain. I think that i should concentrate on trying to lose  some weight as I am carrying a lot of the weight on my tummy and I think this is having an effect on my back. I think that I need to become one of the corseted ladies to improve my posture as well as maybe trying to look a bit sexy. Well a lady can but try. I have found this great site Corsets UK which is really tempting me. I have always wanted a corset but the ones that i saw before were really expensive whereas this site has some reasonably priced ones as well. Watch this space. I intend to be a Victorian tightly laced lady. (Well not that tightly laced lol)

Off to do some crochet and watch a bit of TV instead of going to Knit Club. I hope to have a more interesting post on another day.

Back On The Net

Thanks to a new router and help from Gordon my ex next door neighbour my problem seems to be sorted. Ever since he fitted it for me my Internet connection has stayed on (touch wood) and I have had no more off hours. He also fitted the keyboard from my old PC. This one is cream and I can see the letters. The one that came with the PC that I am using now was black and most of the letters had worn off which made typing a bit of a hit and miss affair.

The Staghorn Sumac tree was absolutely rotten at the base and so unable to be saved.

It has left a hole in the garden. The only upside is that I now have more sunlight in the kitchen and a better view.

Luckily I have two mini trees that were left behind and I am sure that given time the one on the right will grow to be as big as the tree that fell over.

I don't know if you can see all the magpies on a neighbour's roof. These are the ones who used to visit my tree on a daily basis. I don't think that the small tree growing out of their chimney is much of a substitute for my tree but they can always sit in the Rowan tree at the bottom of his garden.

I have made this little dress and pants from a free Ravelry pattern called Baby Girl Sleeper Set by Abigail Goss. It is for foster baby girl M.

I added a couple of pink bows for trimming.

The hat was part of a free Ravelry pattern and partly by adding the same pattern stitch as the dress. I also added a little crochet flower and a pearl button.

As the white set turned out a bit on the small side I made the pink one a bit larger by starting off with more chain at the neckline. I put a chain tie through to hold it in a little.

Once again I added little pink bows to the bodice as a trim.

I added a matching beanie with a flower and pearl button trim. I hope that Sylvia has some long sleeved T shirts and tights to keep the baby warm as unfortunately we are not getting much of a Summer this year. I will post these off to Sylvia either tomorrow or Monday.

I will be returning back to the crocheting for my online store. I still have buttons and trimmings to sew on the things that I have already made. I had started a little cream outfit before Buster arrived but I put it away so as not to get dog hairs on it. I decided to make these two little dresses for baby M in between the shawl and going back to the cream crochet.

I am having a bit of a PJ day as once again I got up rather late and so am feeling rather droopy, I go for weeks with very little sleep and then I have a few days where I sleep for more than 12 hours at a stretch. I don't really like doing this as it wastes so much valuable crocheting time! Maybe my body needs to extra sleep to catch up on what I normally miss.

I think that it's a night in with my crochet just for a change lol. As if I do much of anything else these days. Still it makes me happy and I am never bored which is the main thing. It must be awful for anyone who is not active not to have a hobby. I wonder how they pass their time. I am alone but never lonely as my mind is always occupied making something. Crocheting has saved my sanity in my opinion. I am such a happy hooker. They should be able to bottle interesting hobbies and prescribe them to the bored!

Crochet Shawl In Chenille

My best fur buddy has now gone home. My son came to pick him up and also took me food shopping which I appreciated as it was raining as per usual.

Buster got a little bored on the weekend as playing ball in the house isn't  half as much fun as playing in the garden as you can see from the rather bored expression on his face.

Hey is that my Dad coming up the street? Oh no, false alarm, but I will still keep watch as I know that he will be here for me soon. I have no need for a doorbell when Buster is around.

The chenille shawl is  finished. It took 100 grams of the lilac, cream, and green chenille and about 150 grams of the black.

I usually put an edging on my shawls as I find fringes get very tatty. Chenille tend to unravel and lose it's fluff so I didn't fancy a thin bald looking fringe after a couple of washes.

I just used a simple half granny shawl pattern. There are plenty of free ones on Ravelry. The shawl is a bit too openwork to be really warm but I found it difficult to crochet with the chenille when I tried it on a smaller hook. Thanks Sue for the chenille, I think that the colours have worked really well together.

More supplies from Abakhan for my baby yarn stash. This time it is James C Brett 100 grams Baby Marble DK. I love the subtle colours of this yarn for small babies.

Some more colours to add to my stash for when I get around to starting a brightly coloured afghan for myself. I like bright shades but will probably use black with all of these bright colours. Not decided as yet whether it will be granny type squares or chevron pattern. I am a great fan of Attic 24 so will probably look at her projects for inspiration.

I ordered the green cone as I liked the colour. Not sure if it will be machine knitted or crocheted but it will finish up as something for me no doubt. The little satin bows are to add to my collection of trimmings.

As my Internet is still going off more than it is on I have been spending my time de hairing the house after Buster's visit. I will get back to my baby crochet just as soon as I am sure that at  least the front room is clear of hair again.

I am waiting for the tree surgeon to come and look at the uprooted tree. I am very much afraid that it can't be saved. Since it partially uprooted the leaves are starting to wither which is a sign that the roots could be irreparably damaged in which case the tree will be for the branch chopper machine. I will let you know how this evolves if I can stay on the Internet long enough to blog tomorrow.

I will go off now and post this whilst I still have a connection. Fingers crossed. Whilst I have been typing this the postman has just brought my new router from Orange so let's hope that does the trick of keeping me online. All I need to do now is fit it which isn't an easy task  for someone who can't bend at the knee. I might try to catch the eye of my neighbour later as he is good with computers.

What Else Will Go Wrong?

This is my beautiful Stag horn Sumac tree. Or rather this was my beautiful Stag horn Sumac tree. I let Buster out for a wee at 6am and all was well. I let him out again at 8.30am and found that the tree had uprooted and fallen. It must have fallen slowly as I never heard anything. The only thing keeping it slightly upright is the wall and the old planters. I think that it has rotted at the base but I will have to phone my son's friend who is a tree surgeon to see if anything can be saved. The tree is preventing me from getting to the bottom of the garden to take a proper look as it has fallen across the steps.

This tree is the baby of a tree cutting that my Mum brought from my Aunt's garden in Llanfairtalhearn, North Wales way back in the 50's. She grew the cutting into a tree and when our first shop and our home behind had to be demolished in the early 70's to make way for an Asda Walmart ( which is an eyesore!!!) she took a cutting with her to her new home and gave me a cutting. The small cutting grew into a tree and has had several 'babies' that have sprung up and been given to friends. Fortunately if the worst comes to the worst I have two baby trees growing on either side of Mama tree. It's a mystery how the tree came to be in my aunt's garden in North Wales as the tree is native to Canada. It is a beautiful tree and in the autumn the leaves turn into a lovely golden brown and the fruits are bright red. It's sad to lose a tree that I have watched grow for almost 40 yrs.

I do hope that this is the last of the bad events as this will be number six in the space of one week. I hope to start the new week better but my Internet is still going off for hours at a time. If they ever send me a new router then I hope that this will be the end of my problems.

On the crochet front I have been working on a 4 coloured granny stripe shawl with some chenille given to me by my friend Sue. Buster isn't going home until tomorrow so I can't make a start on any baby crochet tonight. At least I will be able to almost finish the shawl tonight as it is on a large hook. I don't mind a bit of dog hair so the shawl will probably be added to my shawl collection. I like the way that it is crocheting up and have plans to make more shawls with stash oddments. Once I have finished this shawl off I will have an idea how much yarn it takes to make one. It is nice mindless crochet  for when I am chatting at Knit Club or watching something enthralling on the TV.

Tomorrow will be taken up with hoovering dog hair from everywhere, washing throws, cushions and bedding on the spare bed that Buster sleeps on. As it will probably still be raining then the tumble dryer will be on all day.

Sirdar Crochet Top Finished

I managed to solve the puzzle of all of the pieces of the Sirdar crochet top for my elder niece.  This is the front view.

The back view of the top. As you can see it hasn't been blocked out. My niece is going to do that as at the moment it is a bit on the small side but as I explained the cotton will give out a lot once it is wet.

I think that having the mannequin makes a lot of difference to how something is displayed,

This is the Sirdar pattern that I used. The sizes are from a young girl to an adult and can be made with long or short sleeves. I chose the short sleeved version to be worn over vest tops in the Summer (what Summer?)

This is the booklet that the pattern came from although I think that Sirdar has released a few patterns from it as single leaflets. The cotton that I used was a  ribbon type cotton that I bought from Habiknit. Although it was without a label it feels like a good quality cotton. The top took just over 5 x 50 gram balls and it was a double knit thickness.

This is Buster waiting for his Auntie to arrive this morning. There was no walk or ball throwing today as the rain was coming down in torrents again.

My Internet continues to be off more than it is on. It went off yesterday tea time and didn't come on again until lunchtime today. I hope that the new router box ( if and when it arrives) solves the problems that I am having.

As Buster doesn't go home until tomorrow or Monday I have started a shawl with chenille oddments that my friend Sue gave to me. I don't mind if a few Buster hairs get attached to this. Yesterday Buster was funny. He heard the ice cream van chimes two streets away and insisted on sitting outside to wait for the van to arrive. After a while I persuaded him to come in. He then sat on the chair ( like he does in the photo) and stared out of the window until the van arrived. He ran out before me and almost pushed the little girl from next door over in his haste to be first in the queue. The cornet was demolished in about a minute and then he sat drooling at my cornet. I saved him the last bit and that went the way of his cornet. I swear that he would eat ice cream all day if he could!

I forgot to post yesterday that having Buster has it's advantages. I was up very early morning to let him into the garden and a fox was casually strolling down the street. He stopped and we locked eyes for a moment and then he continued on his way. I don't know why I called him a he as it could so easily have been a she. Luckily Buster didn't see it as he was in the back garden at the time.

I had better post this blog page before I lose Internet connection again.

Putting The Pieces of Crochet Together

I am blogging whilst I have Internet service. For the last 2 days I have had very intermittent service despite a phone call to Orange. They are supposed to be sending me a new router box. I say supposed to as when I renewed my contract almost a year ago they promised me one then which never arrived. Every time I have trouble with my connection and I phone them they say they will send a new router and I have yet to receive one. Let's hope that it will be 4th time lucky.

I will be glad when this week is over so that hopefully when I start a new week nothing else will break down.

Buster is having a great time as the weather has been nice and sunny so we have been out in the garden most of the time. I have been attempting to crochet in between throwing his rather mucky ball. He has a passion for digging in any bit of dirt that he can find and he takes his ball with him. As his ball is wet with saliva you can imagine what I have to contend with.

There has been no baby crocheting done whilst he is around for  dirt and dog hair reasons. I have been crocheting a top for my elder niece instead. It is cotton so the hair doesn't stick to it and she will have to rinse it through to get rid of any muddy paw prints!

At the moment it looks rather like a crochet jigsaw puzzle. The body is worked separately, as are the short sleeves and the yoke. I will show you the finished article once it is sewn together. I thought that if I waited until I had finished today then my Internet might have gone off again. I just hope that it stays on so that I can show you the finished cardigan tomorrow.

Today has not been completely wasted, computer wise, as my new set of printer inks arrived this morning and so I have been printing out some of the patterns from Just Crochet that I ordered and saved because I didn't have any ink to print them out with. Beverooni is convinced that I have every one of Heather's patterns but there are still a few that I don't have yet.

I will have to find something else to crochet as Buster isn't going home until Sunday or Monday so baby clothes are out of the question. I can always make something from my oddments. I like making stripey shawls or scarves with my bits from stash. Sorting all the colours out a couple of weeks ago makes it easy for me to see at a glance what I have in stash.

The RSPCA animal charity just called to see if I wished to donate. They are a very worthy cause and helped save one of my cat's lives when I was out of work and couldn't afford vet bills so it's only right that I support them now. Buster, of course, did his usual growl and menace and things went from bad to worse when one of their colleagues came to the door. Unfortunately Buster is not only very protective of me he is also a racist, This comes from before we got him. He practically leaped through the bay window at this poor girl. We don't know much about his previous life except that he had been starved and beaten. We think that somewhere along the line he has encountered cruelty from someone of colour as he certainly hasn't got this attitude from us. The guy in my house said that they would explain to her later what was wrong and why I wouldn't let her in. He said that it was the first racist dog that he had come across.

The weather has changed and rain is on the way. Looks like there won't be any more catch games today. My eldest niece is coming to do my hair roots tomorrow and Buster loves her. If it's not raining she will have a game of catch with him in the garden or even take him for a short walk if she has the time.

Back to my crochet jigsaw. I hope that it is easier to put together than it looks.

Mobile Phones Don't Like Orange Juice

Yesterday I managed to kill my mobile phone. I had been shopping in the village and bought some more storage tray boxes for my buttons. I had sent a text to my niece so my phone was on a box at the side of me as was a glass of orange juice. Somehow I knocked my mobile phone and despite having all of the table to fall on it decided to fall into my glass of orange! Despite rescuing it asap and drying it all out it still seems to be switching on but I have lost the light on my screen. My son is calling down later with a spare phone of his that used to be mine. I need a new phone anyway as the other one was over 3 yrs old and the one I am getting back from my son is around 8 yrs old. My niece finishes teaching in a week or so for the summer holidays so maybe she will take me to a phone store to buy a new phone.

Earlier this week the toaster stopped working and my printer is on the blink. I thought that was my three things until I filled the kettle for my coffee. Water is coming out of the see through screen that shows the water level and I have a counter top with a puddle. As things usually happen in three's I do hope that I don't have another two more things to happen.

This is an order from Kemps that arrived yesterday. A couple of weeks ago I ordered a pack of Sirdar Calico in the deeper pink from the Sale pages. It was a bargain reduced to 99p a ball. I later decided that the colour is a little dark for babies so I ordered another pack to make something for myself at a later date. This pack is a different dye lot to the first pack but I am sure that I can work it together somehow.

I ordered these two colours of Woolcraft DK Baby Prints from Kemps at the same time. They are pretty delicate spot prints pale enough for even a young baby. I still have not managed to get to Bury market wool stall. He usually has quite a few shades of random and fleck baby yarn to choose from. One day when it is market day and I am having a good day knee and back wise I am going to take my 4 wheeler trolley up to Bury on the tram and buy lots of fleck shades. Until then I have loads of plain colours still to crochet. I am OK walking with aid on the flat but the walk up to the village and the station is the bit that knackers me before I even get to Bury.

Whilst I was in the hardware shop buying my storage trays I saw this yarn on the shelves. It's not good quality acrylic but I fell in love with the colours. I want to make a small afghan for myself either in granny squares or in a different coloured block patterns or even a ripple design. I have lots of oddments in stash but I wanted a few really bright colours to liven it up a bit. I will be able to get more bright colours when I get to the market.

These baby jackets and pinafore are now in the post on their way to Sylvia for the foster baby. I do hope that they arrive OK. Sylvia and I like to dress the babies up nicely. Some of the babies have a bad start to life so it's nice to pretty them up as you would do any baby born to a loving family. We both like new babies dressed in pale colours so that is another point that Sylvia and I agree on.

As I have mentioned before I have bought lots of patterns from Just Crochet  by Heather Davidson. I have crocheted a few of her patterns, some that you haven't yet seen. My US friend Bev also loves Heather's patterns in fact I think that it was Bev who introduced me to the web site. Bev has just finished one of Heather's designs and you can see it on her blog One Yarn After Another . I would never have though of using orange for a baby but now I have seen Bev's little outfit it has changed my mind.  Using it with white really works.

I am part way through a white matinee in 4ply intended for my store and I will return to a cream 4 piece set that I left in the middle of the jacket to make clothes for the foster babies. I will have to spend a day sewing buttons and trimmings on to the things that I have already made. I am working towards starting the online store next month. I want to open with at least 10 outfits so I am more than half way there now.

Lily,the lodger cat, has just paid me her morning visit. She will get a shock at the weekend as I am looking after my best fur friend Buster for a few days. He will stop the baby crochet as he sheds hair so much. I might just start something for me whilst he is here. I don't mind a few intertwined dog hairs in my crochet but I don't think that anyone would like to buy a baby outfit full of dog hair.

Time to wash the dishes and then settle down to some crochet. I really need to do a bit of housework too.

Still Busy Crocheting

The weather this weekend has been atrocious. Rain thundering down forming torrents that the grids could not take and so water was flooding down the street. It's at time like this that I am glad that I live on top of the hill and not at the bottom! The grid outside the garage had blocked with leaves so I was out there with a stiff broom amusing the neighbours trying to sweep the lake on the driveway into the grid that I had unblocked.  The good point about the weather is that I was firmly sat in my recliner finishing the last ,for now, jackets for the foster babies. I hope to get them posted off either today or tomorrow.

This matinee has finally used the last of the pink fleck that I bought at Bury market over 2 yrs ago. It has been like the never ending bag of yarn and has made several outfits so I have really had my value for money from that bag. It was unlabelled as some of the Sale market stock is but I can tell from the feel of it that it is a good quality yarn. He just sells unlabelled packs with a price on. They are all reasonably priced and I have not been disappointed with any of the packs that I have bought from him. I miss going up to Bury market for a browse at his Sale lines. Of course sometimes there is nothing in the Sale that I want but that is the luck of the draw. He still carries regular lines but they are mostly acrylic but I don't mind that for babies as it washes so well in the machine.

The pattern for this is Four Little Cherubs  which I bought through Ebay. My skirt stitch isn't quite the same as the pattern as I think that I misinterpreted her instructions for crocheting the single treble in between the shell stitch and so mine has come out as a round the post stitch. I quite liked it so I decided to continue with this stitch even though it is not to the pattern. I couldn't quite understand what she meant on the pattern instructions but it was late in the evening.

I have made this little jacket 3 or 4 times now. This one is a special request from a friend of Sylvia. I made it using James C Brett baby 4ply that I bought at Abakhan. I did make the bottom half of the matinee a bit longer as the pattern only suggests 2 rows before the start of the holes for the ribbon and I feel that this is a bit short.

Close up of the stitches. The bottom border is worked sideways and then the main body is started from picking up along the long edge of the border. My only criticism is that this makes the first row of the skirt a bit tight. I keep forgetting to add an extra chain to each loop to stop it puckering.

This is the pattern  Sirdar 1901. It is a fairly new pattern so should be available still although sometimes in the US the pattern is released with a different number.

I made this little jacket with the rest of the ball left over from the previous jacket. As it is an openwork pattern and short length I just managed to squeak it out of the left overs with a yard to spare.

The pattern should have had 3 flowers on each front and 6 on the back but as I ran out of wool I could only make 4 flowers for decoration.

The pattern is another fairly new pattern from Sirdar 1900. I think that I got both patterns from Purplelinda but they are available from most Sirdar stockists.

All I need to do now is pack everything in a bag ready for the post. The weather is looking like rain again so I have a feeling that it will be tomorrow when I post the parcel as the post office is some distance away and I don't fancy getting a soaking again. I do have to nip to the shops for some food but that will just be a quick up to the village and back praying that I stay reasonably dry. I will take my bright yellow rain poncho with me. It is great but it is so flimsy that parts of it keep tearing. It was very cheap so I think that I will look out for a better quality cape.

I am now going back to crocheting for my online store to be. I broke off when the foster babies arrived but now I have made a few things it's time to return to trying to earn a few pennies if I can. I have a yarn addiction to pay for!